Grandpa's Birthday Celebration

It's been a busy week.  On Monday, I met Kathy Wood and Louise Brownfield at Ben Franklin for lunch - we worked together in the 70's!  Fun time catching up.  Kathy shares a birthday with St. Mark!
Tuesday I had lunch at Applebees with my "old" sorority gals - again, a fun time catching up.
Wednesday I hitched a ride to KC with Ron who was going for a continuing education class to maintain his insurance license.  After dropping him off, I went to Amanda/Chad's to deliver some things, then I did a little shopping by myself.  Picked up Ron at noon and met Amanda at Fred P. Ott's for lunch - yummy.  I was delighted that Amanda took the afternoon off to spend with me - we shopped and had a great time.  She delivered me back to the insurance class, then Ron and I came on home and visited with Grammaw for a while.
Thursday I spent a lot of time with Mom during the day and had P.E.O. that night.
Friday was garage sale day with Mom, Kelly and Sherri - and then we went on to the Amish Store in Windsor - a fun morning.
Saturday, Mom and I went to one garage sale, then we spent the morning together at my house while I practiced the piano, etc.  I fixed fried chicken for dinner Saturday night which we all enjoyed.

Sunday, Ron and I went to Overland Park to spend the day with Amanda and the kiddos.  Chad was playing golf in a tournament - missed him!  We played around the house then went to Kohl's to spend our Kohl's cash - always fun - then we went to Blue Moose for brunch buffet to celebrate Grandpa's early a week early.  It was yummy and fun!  The kids do so well at buffets and Peyton loves the concept of a brunch.

After we went home, I read a book to Garrison before his nap, then Peyton and Grandpa went to the neighborhood pool which they had to themselves!  Ron said they spent most of the time playing "swimming lessons" - Peyton was the teacher and he was her assistant.  They had 60 pretend students!  Wow.  We loved hearing all about Peyton's first two days of school and their neighborhood end of summer party the night before.  A great day.  Peyton and her Mommy were going to a Girl Scout organizational meeting later in the afternoon.

Farmer dinner tomorrow night - fish fry at the Lake next Saturday - a fun week ahead.

We are blessed - priceless memories.

GRAMMY/PEYTON DAY - 2nd Annual - and Peyton/Garrison Weekend in Clinton

What a ride for the past 3 days!  Friday began with our 2nd annual Peyton and Grammy Day!  It's a day where we do whatever Peyton wants to do - and it was a fun-filled day.  I picked her up at school around 8:30 a.m., and we started with breakfast at McDonald's (imagine that).  The stores at the mall were not open yet, so we went to Walmart to return something for Amanda and to Kohl's for a little shopping for school clothes, but we didn't find anything.  Peyton was very anxious to get to the American Girl Store!  That was our next stop.  We shopped a bit, but she knew what she wanted - a dog named Coconut and a book about a gymnast.

She found some school shoes at Stride Rite and a pair of aqua flip flops with a big puffy flower on them.  She had fun shopping there.  We went to Justice, but she didn't find any school clothes - just some Frozen Lip Gloss and Fingernail Polish!  She wanted to go to Build-A-Bear where she immediately picked out the rainbow bear who she named Victoria (her best friend's name), and a sparkly dress and shoes!  She did her own typing for the birth certificate and loved her bear.

We rode the carousel twice and went to the arcade where she had a blast.  She won 60 tickets and picked out a couple of rings, bracelets and a sticker.  It was busy there.   She had her choice of lunch places, and I tried to talk her into Olive Garden, but she insisted on eating at Auntie Anne's Pretzel Place - geez - where we had cocktail weenies wrapped in pretzel dough and orange pop.  She also had 4 flavors of gelato and a couple of cookies from the cookie store.

We went to Costco where Peyton picked out Garrison a Spider Man Costume for dress-up fun and a spider-man jacket.  She loved sampling the foods from the "sellers" and bought some applesauce for snacks for her school days and some juice.  It was then time for Garrison to be up from his nap, so we  motored on over to school to pick up her little brother.  He was very excited to see us.  We then drove to Clinton to start our weekend of fun.

We started at Grammaw's house for dinner of meatballs, green beans, macaroni and cheese, hot bread and ice cream bars.  Yummo.  Grandpa met us there, and we had a good visit with Grammaw.

Saturday morning, we picked up Grammaw very early and went to a garage sale where the kids found some treasures and then to the Donut Palace for breakfast.  I managed to leave my phone there, but they found it, and Grandpa went to pick it up for me - whew.

After some fun play at home, we went to Blossom's Birthday Party at the park (Hawthorn Bank's mascot).  There they kids had fun playing horseshoes, tic-tac-toe with balls, etc. and played on the playground at the park.  Had pizza for lunch before coming home.

We had a good time playing Old Maid, putting together puzzles and just old-fashioned playing while Garrison was napping.  After he woke up, we ate a quick bite then went to the car show on the square to look at the classic cars, followed by ice cream treats at The Dairy Queen.  Lots of giggles and fun there.

Sunday morning we went to church where Peyton was my helper while I played the Gathering Music.   Peyton also went forward for the Blessing of Kindergarteners - we were so proud of her!  After enjoying donuts following church, we picked Grammaw up.  The kids had a great time playing with Grammaw and laughing and laughing.  Peyton asked if they could stay another day - how sweet.  We baked some cookies and then went to McDonald's for lunch before heading home.

Grammy and Peyton Day and the entire weekend were a blast - priceless memories.  We are blessed.

Birthday Week for Garrison and Grammy

It's been a busy week!  Garrison turned 3 on Tuesday - Grammy turned 59 on Tuesday as well - we're birthday buddies.  Garrison took cookies to school in the shape of "3's" to share with his classmates, and the family went out to dinner at Blue Moose - a family favorite!  Both kids received birthday desserts for Garrison's birthday.

Ron took me out to lunch at Square 109 for Chicken Fried Steak dinners - yummo - and Mom made me a chocolate pie for dinner.  A good day!

Thursday, I helped with the Back to School Fair at the Benson Center as I have for the past 10 years or so.  It was 3-5:30 p.m., and we were out of school supplies by 3:50 p.m.  Geez.

Friday morning, I went to garage sales with Kelly and Sherri - Mom thought she had better rest her legs for Garrison's party on Saturday, so she sat this one out - we missed her.  Found some great buys.
Later, I went to Kelly's for a belated birthday lunch of steak, baked potatoes and fresh green beans.  It was delicious.

Saturday morning, Grandpa, Grammy and Great-Grandma Mintun traveled to Overland Park for Garrison's 3rd birthday party at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead (I took most of the pictures with Amanda's camera and don't have those pics yet, so that is why Grammaw isn't in any of the pics).  The party was well attended by family and friends/families of Garrison's school.  He was so excited!  They played a bean bag game in the "barn" and enjoyed refreshments of roll-ups, veggies, grapes, cookies and the spectacular birthday cake that his Mommy lovingly made him with some help from Big Sissy, Peyton.  Garrison enjoyed opening his presents and thanked each person for his gift and thanked them for coming to his party as people were leaving - such a polite young man!  He liked handing out the party favors, and each child also received a certificate to ride the ponies inside the farm.  This was the first time Garrison was old enough to ride the ponies (age of 3), and he was thrilled.  It was a great party!

We went to church on Sunday and then to Grammaw's for a light lunch since we are hosting our Supper Club tonight - ham and pulled pork is the main dish - everyone else will bring sides.  The rain missed us - we were hopeful.  Maybe next time.

Peyton and I will have our second annual Peyton/Grammy Day on Friday, then we will pick up Garrison and bring them both back to Clinton with me for the weekend.  It is Blossom's Birthday Party on Saturday (bank mascot), so we plan to go to her party at the park for some fun and a hotdog, then we plan to go to the car show on the square that evening which will include a homemade ice cream contest - we get to sample all the entries for $2 each - yea!

We are so blessed - God is good!